(male) One of the many French names of Germanic origin that were introduced into Britain by the Normans; it has since remained in continuous use. It is derived from the nearly synonymous elements hrōd ‘fame’ + berht ‘bright, famous’, and had a native Old English predecessor of similar form (Hreodbeorht), which was supplanted by the Norman name. Two dukes of Normandy in the 11th century bore the name: the father of William the Conqueror (sometimes identified with the legendary Robert the Devil), and his eldest son. It was borne also by three kings of Scotland, notably Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), who freed Scotland from English domination. The altered short form Bob is very common, but Hob and Dob, which were common in the Middle Ages and gave rise to surnames, are extinct. See also Rupert.
Short forms: Bob, Rob.
Pet forms: Bobby, Robbie, Robin.
Cognates: Irish: Roibéard. Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart. German: Robert, Rupprecht. Dutch: Robrecht, Rob(b)ert. Scandinavian: Robert. French: Robert. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian: Roberto. Czech: Robert. Finnish: Roopertti. Hungarian: Róbert. Latvian: Roberts.
English and Scottish: habitational name from any of the many places called Mor(e)ton, named in Old English as ‘settlement (tūn) by or on a marsh or moor (mōr)’.
Swedish: variant of Martin.
French: contracted form of Moreton 2.
Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames or of various other non-English names bearing some kind of similarity to it.
FOREBEARS The name Morton was established early in North America. George Morton (1585–1624), one of the Pilgrims, was probably born in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England. He and his son Nathaniel (b. 1613 in Leiden, the Netherlands) settled in Plymouth in 1623. John Morton (c.1724–77), one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was born in PA, of Swedish descent. His grandfather, Morten Mortenson, had emigrated from Gothenburg in 1654.
